Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two)

by Iram Dana

  “At least tell me your name …”

  There was silence for a few moments, in which no one spoke. Then, she turned her head to one side, not really looking at him.

  “Destiny.” she said, then put on her helmet and zoomed off on her bike.

  “Destiny …” repeated Heart. “Destiny.”

  Rain walked up to Heart and perched his hands on his hips. “Plan to sleep there on the ground tonight?” he asked.

  Heart got to his feet slowly, still staring at the empty highway. “Destiny …”

  “Quit the chanting. She’s no genie and she isn’t going to reappear. Now, can we please leave before some more people come up here and decide to shoot themselves in the knees?” said Rain, directing a pointed glance to the boy writhing on the ground. Subodh placed a few medicines near the boy’s face but other than that, no one moved to help.

  “Use these to clean and bind your wounds. And turn into a better person or you’ll suffer a worse fate someday.” warned Subodh before turning and leaving the gaping boy.

  “Who are you people? What are you people?” the boy whispered, but everyone ignored him as they filed out of the diner’s parking lot.

  Together, they trudged up the lonely highway until they found a motel. There, they booked one room with two single beds. Rain and Heart let Subodh and Angel have the beds, while the two of them crashed out on the floor.

  *****

  They set off again the next morning after breakfast, which Angel paid for once more besides having paid for their meal and lodging last night.

  “You seem to be one rich guy.” commented Rain.

  “I was a baron in a previous life.” joked Angel as they walked out of the motel.

  “And I suppose, the wealth carried forward to this life, too?” chipped in Heart, who was walking behind Rain and Angel with Subodh. Angel’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.

  “Actually, it’s this handy little thing here.” said Angel, pointing to the belt on his waist.

  Rain glanced at the belt that was almost exactly like his, only purple in color. He hadn’t noticed it last night because of the poor lighting in the shack.

  “You have the belt of Astra!” exclaimed Rain.

  “Yeah. Takes care of all me needs.” said Angel, patting the belt. “Don’t look so impressed, dude. I didn’t earn it. It belonged to a fellow sequestor friend who I used to travel with. She got mortally wounded on one of her tasks and gifted the belt to me before she died.”

  “She died before completing her Quest?” asked Rain.

  Angel nodded.

  “Sorry to hear that.”

  “The two of us were real close. She was a good girl.” said Angel.

  “Was she your soulmate?”

  “No, just a friend. How did you get the belt of Halion?” said Angel, pointing to the belt on Rain’s waist.

  “It belonged to my mother. Dad gave it to me before I came here.”

  “Both your parents were sequestors?”

  “Yup. What about you?”

  Angel hooked his fingers into his pockets and looked far ahead.

  “My mother was a sequestor. She met her soulmate while on her Quest but once their Quests were completed, he refused to leave. He wanted to stay back in Quniverse whereas my mother wanted to go home … start a family, live a normal life. Eventually she left without him, hoping he would follow after. But he didn’t. He never came back. Ma went on marry someone else after waiting for almost eight years…”

  Rain was surprised to hear what Angel was saying, and he made no effort to hide it.

  “Is that possible? How can you leave your soulmate and go on alone in life?”

  Angel shrugged. “Hell if I know …Happened to my mother. I guess to some people, love just isn’t a priority.”

  Rain turned his thoughts inward to consult with his Geeya.

  ‘Could what he is saying be true?’

  ‘Why not? Humans are very complex creatures, with complex emotions.’

  Rain thought about the possibilities of what she was implying.

  ‘But I thought coming on your Quest solved all your love problems for you by serving your soulmate up on a platter.’

  ‘Rain, coming for your Quest is a choice. There are people out there who have not gone on their Quests yet they have found their soulmates in the outside world itself. Going on your Quest guarantees that you will meet your soulmate. It doesn’t guarantee a happily ever after. That’s up to you and your partner.’

  ‘If a person can meet their soulmate out there in the real world, too, then what’s the point of coming here and going through all of these life threatening situations?’

  ‘Because out there, there is no guarantee that one will meet his or her soulmate. People meet the one they think is perfect and then, when they find out that they are not ideally suited, they make compromises in order to make their relationships work. But how long can you continue to make compromises in a relationship? Sooner or later, the cracks start to appear … And therein lies the difference in making a life with your soulmate.. Your soulmate will be the most perfect match for you. The two of you will share the same tastes in almost everything. You’ll never have to make a compromise because your soulmate will want the same things that you do, and enjoy it with you, too. In Quniverse, you are guaranteed to meet that person’

  ‘What about sequestors like Marine? He stopped midway in his Quest and obviously, never had the chance to meet his soulmate. Or take someone like Angel’s friend. She died while on her Quest. What happens to the soulmates of such people?’

  ‘A soulmate is a person who mirrors your soul. You will always, and only, meet the person who is just like you. Who will complete you. So do not worry.’

  ‘Wow. This is all so complicated.’

  ‘No, it isn’t. Not if you trust your heart…and your destiny.’

  *****

  CHAPTER 20

  As the months rolled on, they left the highway behind and came out onto the vast open mountainous terrain. It was barren, but breathtaking. They passed deep gorges and canyons where every shade of the sand from a dark, almost black-brown color, to a light creamy white could be made out in the many layers.

  With no trees or animals around, they couldn’t hunt. But food was never a problem with Angel around to keep pulling out fruits and other treats from his belt whenever someone was hungry.

  As the days wore on the vista around them changed, the season changed, the wind changed; but one thing that didn’t change was Heart’s forlorn mood. Even though he had met her very briefly, Heart, for some reason, seemed to be desperately hung on Destiny and the hope of seeing her again.

  “Don’t worry, no one can steal ‘your Destiny’, remember?” Rain would tease. “If she’s meant for you, she’ll come back to you.”

  “But I want her to be meant for me … and I need to see her again…and again and -”

  “Yeah, yeah. We get it.” Rain would say with a roll of his eyes, and Heart would go into his pensive mood again.

  Soon, they started encountering clumps of vegetation in their path and the ground began to gain altitude. Before long, they were in the midst of a forest again. As the sun set on yet another uneventful day spent travelling for the most part, they found a safe and shady spot to rest, and decided to call it a day. After sharing a simple meal of dried meat and bread, they asked Subodh to teach some of the values in life that were missing in them. Subodh gladly obliged and hardly five minutes later, all three boys were snoring and peacefully asleep.

  “Wake up, you two! It’s going to be noon!”

  Nobody moved. Heart opened his lids halfway, gave Rain a thumbs up sign, and then closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Rain gave an exasperated sigh.

  “This is your last warning. Wake up, or be woken up.” threatened Rain.

  Angel mumbled some gibberish while Heart gave a sleepy nod.

  “Fine, have it your way.” said Rain, with a wicked smile. A moment later, it be
gan to pour over the two of them. Rain heard a series of coughs and grunts coming from within the deluge and intensified the downpour.

  “Stop! Stop!” sputtered Heart, coming out from under the curtain of rain. “I’m awake, okay?”

  Angel stumbled out behind him, angrily searching for the perpetrator of this crime.

  He pointed an accusing finger at Rain.

  “I should kill you for that!”

  “Not ‘should’ – ‘could’.” corrected Rain, holding up a finger sagely. “But you won’t do it because you know that if I die before I have a chance to complete my Quest, it’s going to affect my mental balance.”

  Angel gave a sarcastic snort.

  “I can see where the mental part comes from, but the balance … can’t see any of that.”

  “In that case, please allow me to clear your vision.” said Rain.

  It began to rain over Angel again. Angel tried to walk out of it, but the cloud followed wherever he went.

  “Funny you should be preoccupied with drenching me, when you are clearly in need of it yourself.” said Angel, from below the shower cloud.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Rain!” gasped Heart, pointing at his leg which was rapidly being engulfed in flames.

  The clouds over Angel’s head disappeared as Rain yelled and jumped up and down, slapping at his claves. The flames kept spreading upwards rapidly.

  “Stop panicking! Douse the flames with water!” shouted Heart.

  Rain let the clouds unload their burden on him and let the water soak him until all of the flames had died out. Heart walked up to him when the showers stopped.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “I am …” said Rain, examining his leg in wonder. “But how come there are no burn marks on my leg?”

  Angel walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder.

  “Hope you enjoyed the shower.” He grinned.

  “You did that!” growled Rain. “It was an illusion!”

  “No, not an illusion -a warning. Don’t play with fire if you can’t handle the burn.” said Angel, walking away.

  Rain watched him through narrowed eyes. He ran forward and launched himself on Angel, tackling him to the ground. He landed a sound punch to Angel’s side and then jumped off of him and ran for all he was worth.

  Angel scrambled to his feet and went after Rain with a roar. Heart followed after the other two, desperately trying to awaken fierce feelings of brotherhood in both their hearts.

  *****

  It was close to sunset and they were making their way upward, trekking along the winding mountainous path with Subodh in the lead. Rain and Angel were still jabbing playfully at each other as and when the opportunity struck, with Heart playing mediator if a jab landed too forcefully.

  “Let’s just stop here for a minute and admire the view.” said Heart, wanting to watch the sun dip below the horizon.

  Behind them was the mountain and ahead of them a steep drop, beyond which stretched rolling hills all colored pink in the light of setting sun.

  “My imagination is no match for the original.” said Angel softly.

  “Looks like someone brushed paint across the sky.” added Rain, glancing sideways at Angel to see if he was distracted enough for him to land another jab at his sides.

  Heart, who sensed Rain’s intention, came to stand strategically between him and Angel. He threw a meaningful glare at Rain, who scowled back at him.

  The silence of the mountain was suddenly jarred by the sound of a crash, followed a few seconds later by a blood curdling scream. All four of them turned in unison towards the sound.

  “Sounded like it came from somewhere just ahead.” said Heart.

  “Hold on a sec …” said Angel, “shouldn’t the sequence of events be scream and then crash, as opposed to crash and then scream?”

  But nobody paid him any attention. Rain and Heart broke into a run, leaving Angel behind to get Subodh.

  “Over there! I see someone.” said Rain, pointing to a body crumpled beside a large rock.

  Heart lurched to a stop and his face went white.

  “What’s wrong?” said Rain, halting too.

  Heart was staring at the body with horror. “Destiny!” he cried, and then raced towards the body.

  “Wha …?” said Rain, following hotly on his heels.

  Heart reached her first. “She’s unconscious. And I can barely sense a heartbeat.” said Heart, frantically feeling her pulse.

  Rain was down already, pumping her heart and blowing air into her lungs.

  There was a deep cut on her scalp, which was bleeding profusely. Heart slapped her face lightly.

  “Destiny, speak to me! Are you all right?”

  She groaned and relief washed over Heart. At least she was alive - for now.

  “Rain, hand me your water bottle.”

  Rain pulled the bottle out of his belt and gave it to heart, who put a few drops of water into Destiny’s mouth. She smacked her dry lips and turned her face towards him for some more. He poured in small amounts of water into her mouth.

  “What happened to you?” he asked, his voice brimming over with concern.

  “A girl …” said Destiny, pointing to the road.

  Both Rain and Heart looked in the direction she was pointing at.

  “There’s nobody there.” said Rain.

  “There was a girl …” said Destiny, through short gasps, “I was riding … my bike. And … she suddenly jumped out … from behind that rock.”

  Destiny took a moment to breathe, and then continued.

  “There was a sharp curve ahead … I swerved to avoid her, but crashed into this boulder here … and my bike … it skidded ahead and fell off the edge …”

  “Is that why you screamed?” asked Rain.

  She shook her head in denial, and then winced with pain.

  “No, it was the girl. She started laughing hysterically … while I lay injured. And then … and then … she jumped off the edge of the cliff …”

  Destiny closed her eyes and tears streamed down her cheeks. “That was when I screamed … when I saw her jump …”

  Rain looked at the sharp bend ahead from where the girl had apparently jumped. A fall from such a height meant sure death.

  “Destiny, I don’t think it was a girl …” said Rain.

  “What do you mean?” asked Heart.

  By now, Subodh and Angel had reached them and Subodh was trying to staunch the flow of blood from Destiny’s head.

  “I think it was an Undead. My Geeya told me they are restless spirits who create havoc and mischief.” speculated Rain.

  “I know what you mean.” said Angel, his deep voice booming in the silence. Destiny winced, and Heart asked Angel to lower his volume by a few decibels.

  “Sorry.” apologized Angel, lowering his voice. “But I think Rain is correct. The undead do crazy stuff to trouble others and take much joy from it. A few months back, before I met you people, I was walking under a rocky ledge with my cat, Miss Mint. All of a sudden, this huge boulder came crashing down on me. My Geeya pushed me out of its way in the nick of time, but my cat- who limped- got crushed. Then I heard mad, maniacal laughter coming from above. I looked up to see who it was, but there was nobody there.”

  “We need to take her somewhere proper, where I can treat her wounds.” rasped Subodh.

  Rain consulted his Geeya.

  “Is there any place in this forest where we can camp out?”

  She nodded, and offered to show the way.

  Heart lifted Destiny carefully in his arms and they all followed Rain.

  His Geeya led them all to a large clearing in the middle of the forest. The ground was plain and flat here, surrounded on all sides by large trees and bushes. There was a pile of wood cut into logs in one corner, and the remnants of a fire in the middle of the clearing.

  “I think someone camped here until very recently.” guessed Angel.

  “Yeah, it’s to
o clean a spot to have just appeared out of nowhere. All the same, it’s perfect. Let’s get to work.” said Rain.

  Subodh worked on Destiny’s injuries with help from Heart and Rain, who were able assistants and stocked most of his supplies for him. Subodh needed to use no anesthetic because Destiny had lost consciousness.

  “Will she be all right?” asked Heart, his forehead etched with lines of worry.

  “I’m sure she will be. She is a young and healthy woman. But she needs to rest for at least eight to ten days.” said Subodh.

  That night, Heart went about gathering as many leaves as he could and made a soft bed out of them. He laid his t-shirts over the bed of leaves as added cushioning and then lay the as-yet unconscious Destiny down over the leafy bed.

  The next morning, as soon as she regained consciousness, Destiny expressed her wish to leave.

  “But you got badly injured yesterday. You have to rest for a few days.” protested Heart.

  “I know I need rest. And I will rest. Only not here.” said Destiny, rolling to her side with difficulty and supporting her weight on one elbow to be better able to look at the faces around her.

  “But why?” argued Heart.

  “Because I do not trust men. And over here, there are only men.”

  “You can trust each and every one of us here, Destiny. I’ve known Rain for almost three years now, and I can vouch for his integrity firmly. Angel’s a real nice person, too, I can tell; even though I’ve only known him for a few months. And Subodh here, he’s a healer. You couldn’t doubt his intentions.”

  “How are you vouching for Rain and Angel so strongly?”

  “I can sense the desires of a person’s heart and control them. That is how.”

  “And who will vouch for you?” she asked softly.

  Heart stared at Destiny.

  The silence between them lengthened, but she met his gaze unflinchingly.

  “I am a man of honor, Destiny. And I would lay down my life to defend that claim.”

  She looked away. She couldn’t meet his soul-baring gaze any longer.